


The Limitations of the Countryside

by IWasHereMomentsAgo



Category: Havemercy Series - Jaida Jones & Danielle Bennett
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-06
Updated: 2014-03-06
Packaged: 2018-01-14 18:53:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1277149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IWasHereMomentsAgo/pseuds/IWasHereMomentsAgo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Royston comes to the realisation that perhaps he does not entirely agree with his family's ideas of correct behaviour.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Limitations of the Countryside

Royston knew he would not be allowed to see the boy again. Royston also knew he wanted to desperately, and not just because Oliver had managed to fill in all the blanks, all the empty spaces Royston felt when he tried to be like his big brother. When he tried to like girls.

He hadn’t really understood what had been going wrong, but supposed that perhaps some of the girls weren’t exactly unattractive and _that_ was what his brother meant when he went _on_ so about them. So he had tried to like them too, talk to a few of the prettier ones to stop his brother being so very frustrated with him. It had been going well until one of them had wanted to kiss him - Royston hadn’t thought much of _that_ idea, and so had told her exactly what she could do with it. The news of which made its way back to his brother, who had been less than impressed.

At first, Royston just supposed he was broken in some way. Maybe he couldn’t actually _like_ people. Perhaps he would be on his own forever, and he considered whether he would prefer that to trying very hard to be with somebody who didn’t make him happy. He supposed he wouldn't; he did so hate to be lonely. 

Of course, it all changed when he met Oliver, sitting by Locque Nevers engrossed in a book, and Royston suddenly understood what had been going wrong. He had been refusing to entertain the possibility that perhaps his preferences might lie with boys - his father and brother had made it very clear what they thought of _those_ particular types of men, and Royston did not think much of the notion that his father might try to knock those inclinations out of him. It simply wasn’t heard of - he didn’t know a single man who liked men the way his brother and father liked women, so Royston couldn’t _possibly_. He _couldn’t_. The fact remained, however, that Oliver’s eyes made his chest ache and the brush of his fingers against Royston’s skin made something warm, something unfamiliar but not at all unpleasant pool in his stomach and made him realise that perhaps he wasn’t _entirely_ broken after all.

Kissing him set the rest of Royston’s doubts aside. His family were wrong, it was as simple as that. The way Royston felt when Oliver’s lips moved against his own couldn’t possibly be unnatural, couldn’t possibly be disgusting. They were wrong and Royston finally understood.

Of course, he knew that not everyone would understand so easily, and if he wanted to keep seeing Oliver then they had to keep quiet about their relationship. And he did _so_ want to keep seeing Oliver. They enjoyed the same books, hated the same sports. Oliver was even teaching himself Arlemagne and had given Royston a few lessons. Neither of them thought much of the sheep or the way the other boys their age liked to hit each other, and he could recite poetry beautifully. At night, when it was very dark and quiet enough that he could think secrets which seemed too much to bear by daylight, he supposed this was what falling in love felt like.

That was, until Oliver decided he had had enough of the secrecy and told his parents everything. Royston wished he had been consulted beforehand so he could at least have been somewhat prepared when Oliver’s father came to visit Royston’s father, but he supposed he didn’t entirely resent Oliver for it. He was closer to his parents than Royston was to his own. He knew keeping it from them had been hard on him and that despite how angry they were now, they would get over it far more quickly than Royston’s family would. After the initial angry blows Royston’s father had inflicted upon him, he had been forbidden from leaving the house at all for two months - not that he had anywhere to go now his brother had been ordered to chaperone him when he finally _was_ allowed to leave.

It was during his time locked away in his room with only his books to ease the ache he felt at missing Oliver that he came to the decision that he would no longer allow himself to be controlled by the limitations of the countryside. He would leave for the city as soon as he was of age, and when he did he would not come back.

He did not see Oliver again. None of the letters Royston sent were responded to - he could only assume that they had been intercepted by his parents and so he gave up writing. After that, he mostly kept to himself. He got better at keeping secrets and finding hidden places to take the boys he liked until the time eventually came for him to leave. And before he did, he made sure to tell his father exactly what he had been doing for the last few years, why he was leaving, and the types of people he would be seeing in the city.

His father ensured that Royston did not see him again, either, after that.


End file.
